MIT engineers have developed the first light-sensitive protein molecule that enables neurons to be silenced noninvasively. Using a light source outside the skull makes it possible to do long-term studies without an implanted light source.

It’s an ironic marker of the digital divide that sometimes what constitutes a technological breakthrough is in fact a return to the simplest technologies in order to bring the benefits of modern science to those in the developing world.

It’s no Forrest Gump but this moving one armed robot is plenty good at ping pong. And may be even better than you. Watch it extend its arm to cover ground, cycle through backhand and forehand shots and hit the ball so effortlessly that it seems like an invisible human is controlling it.